In Protest, Chinese Artist Paints Self To OctoCamo Perfection

Chinese artist Liu Bolin took the streets after literally being made homeless by the Chinese government. Suojiacun, an artists' village in northeastern Beijing was torn down during the Olympic redevelopment. An interview with WhiteHot Magazine can be found here.

With the help of assistants, Bolin has achieved a Metal Gear Solid 4 optic-camo level of camouflage by painting himself to blend in with the foreground. In a series he's called Hiding In The City, Bolin disappears into the urban landscapes of various cities. His photos haven't been touched by Photoshop and there's no camera trickery involved. The true meaning of his his art is up for interpretation, but if the first photo hasn't rattled your bones, you must have the eyes of a hawk.

I'm going to assume the meaning behind this work is the fact that regular Chinese citizens were completely invisible in the face of the glorious bulldozer that was the Olympic games (and the continuing modernisation of China). Nevermind the thousands who had their lives ruined by all the construction that took over their homes (or the centuries of heritage demolished); it's all about progress baby!

That was one interesting comment you made Mr.Waffle about being in front of the buldozer. While probably not intended, I think it could be compared to the symbolism of the guy who stood in front of the tank in Tienamin Squre in the early eighties.

We all love the Olympics with all the shiny medals and pretty buildings but wherever they go they always leave a trail of displaced people behind who are always the most poor of course. I can't speak for everywhere but I know this was the fact in both Vancouver and Montreal. In the end what's it really all for?

Maybe I'm not knowledgable enough about the inner workings of China, but I really can't imagine how ninety-five percent of their population is going to be advantaged by those buildings. Who can afford them and what are they going to use them for, homeless shelters?

you say something about the Olympic stadiums not helping 95% of the Chinese, but the massive influx of money from around the world boosted the Chinese economy. Helping all people, more people than the tenements that were standing there before, but based on your comment about thinking 'the man was painted onto the already taken photos' you probably thought 95% of the Chinese people lived in those buildings.

Katie - while lots of people did protest in Tiananmen Square, most of the deaths occurred in the streets surrounding the square. The official death toll is 300, but more reliable estimates have the actual number of deaths at around 3,000. One of the important things about the protest was that the support from ordinary civilians given to the students was huge, and in fact it was mostly those civilians who bore the brunt of the casualties.

I agree with you on the olympics but you can take it further and say the series as a whole is protesting the chinese government's total control over everything there, including which houses get torn down. the people have literally no say in what their government does, rendering them "invisible" to their leaders. Sure, their economy is being boosted and they're soon going to be the highest grossing economy in the world, but is that really worth losing your individual rights?
That's just my personal opinion though. JUST SAYIN...

This is pure art genius at work. The fact that these images are actual photographs with the image of the artist painted in by hand is both refreshing and incredibly interesting and terrific.

I am new to StumbleUpon which in itself is a pretty incredible site and I must say to some of the previous commentators that we are cross pollinated here. In particular Mr.Chuloopa caught my attention with some of his comments. You are wrong to say this has nothing to do with gaming. I didn't check gaming as one of my interests, yet here you are. That's not by coincidence, like I say we're cross pollinated here, my interests are in art and photography amongst many other things to do with the human condition. The connection here for gamers is that without pure art genius that this man has created as well as others, there would be no gaming like you know it! You would still be watching PONG the first video game and only available in bowling alleys. Bink.....bonk.....bink......bonk.....bink......

The artist isn't painted into the photograph. He stand's in the spot he wants, deciders how the shot is framed, and then his assitants paint HIM, as in they paint on his body and clothes, to make him blend in with the background.

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